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Director Rahul Dholakia
Producer Bunty Walia, Jaspreet Singh Walia
Starring Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, Kunal Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Mahesh Manjrekar, Shernaz Patel, Yashpal Sharma, Vipin Sharma, Aman Verma, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Rajesh Khera, Murli Sharma, Jyoti Dogra, Denzil Smith, Yuri Suri, Ehsaan Khan
Lamhaa directed by Rahul Dholakia is a film about Kashmir. The film tries to touch upon many issues, from scheming politicians, to the appalling condition of the army men, to sex scandals, and what not thus ending up being convoluted. The film has been in the buzz from quite a long time.
The film opens with Indian Military Intelligence suspecting a plot to disrupt and paralyze Kashmir and an attempt to do a successful repeat of what was a failed attempt in 1989. That's breaking of the state of Kashmir away from India, hand in glove with Pakistan. A retired paramilitary commando Vikram (Sanjay Dutt) is sent to investigate and avert it.
In Kashmir, he goes undercover posing as press photographer Gul Jehangir. Haji (Anupam Kher) an influential separatist leader has had 17 attempts on his life so far in the last 18 years and Vikram through his sources concludes that last attempt on his life was an insider's job. He succeeds in gaining the trust of Haji's protege Aziza (Bipasha Basu) and convinces her that there is another attack planned on his life.
Atif (Kunal Kapoor) a former militant and love interest of Aziza who has had a fall out with Haji hopes to bring peace to the valley by participating in the upcoming state elections. But then as Vikram digs further he realizes the mess has only got deeper. Nothing is actually what it seems and there is hardly any one who can be trusted.
LAMHAA
First things first! Lamhaa has been filmed in Kashmir and you're awe-struck by its beauty, with DoP James Fowlds doing a splendid job in capturing the scenic locales on celluloid. The constant shaking of the camera also gives a real feel. Unfortunately, Lamhaa, though controversial in nature, merely touches the tip of the issue, instead of going all-out and narrating a story that offers reasons and perhaps, a solution to the crisis.
Performance wise, Sanjay Dutt is decent in the film but his character seems shallow. Bipasha Basu is pretty convincing in her de-glam avatar. Kunal Kapoor is good but falters while delivering his political speeches. Anupam Kher is impeccable.
On the whole, Apart from bringing some already prevailing issues of Kashmir to the big screen, Lamhaa doesn't offer much to rave about.
